I IMAGINE we’ve all experienced that ‘Foxtrot Oscar’ moment when a large organisation uses PR-speak to show us how much the organisation really despises us.
A couple of weeks ago, in the wake of the allegations against cheeky-chappie former greengrocer Gregg Wallace, the BBC PR department informed us that ‘any issues raised [about presenters’ behaviour] are taken seriously and there are robust processes in place to deal with them. We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated’.
Given the long string of BBC cover-ups, from national treasure Sir James ‘Jimmy’ Savile to national treasure Huw Edwards, some might find the BBC’s claim to have ‘robust processes in place’ somewhat difficult to swallow. In fact, the only robust processes the BBC seem to have are those used to protect their ‘stars’, however inappropriate their behaviour. As for us ordinary people who pay the BBC employees’ massive salaries and generous pensions, the corporation seem to be telling us that we can all Foxtrot Oscar.
There are many figures available suggesting our NHS is failing us. I had always thought that there were about 34,000 people who die unnecessarily in our NHS each year. I found this figure when I was doing research for a 2007 book about problems in our NHS, Who Cares? I co-wrote it with Midlands housewife Amanda Steane who lost her husband Paul after an appalling series of NHS blunders. But according to a recent report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on ‘Deaths from causes considered treatable or preventable given timely and effective healthcare or public health interventions in those aged under 75 years’ the figures are: ‘In 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively, 22.3 per cent, 23.8 per cent and 21.8 per cent of total deaths (all ages) in England and Wales were considered avoidable: in 2021 there were 139,495 avoidable deaths out of 585,484 total deaths, and in 2022 there were 125,612 avoidable deaths of 576,027 total.’
I imagine the difference in the figures is that I was looking at directly avoidable deaths in hospitals whereas the ONS figures seem to have a broader scope.
Or you could judge our NHS using a report by the King’s Fund think tank which compared the UK’s health service with the performance of 18 other health systems, including those in Europe as well as Japan, the US and Australia in 2019. Of the 18 health systems studied, the UK had the second highest death rate from treatable conditions. Whichever figures or report you accept, avoidable deaths seems to be a big number considering we pay over £180billion each year for our apparently struggling NHS.
However, every time there is a scandal involving the NHS, and there have been many, we’re told: ‘Patient safety is our highest priority’ or ‘Patient safety is the guiding principle of all who serve in the NHS’ or some similar Foxtrot Oscar guff produced by the NHS’s army of over-paid, over-pensioned PR staff. And, of course, after each scandal and subsequent investigation in which nobody accepts any blame and nobody is sanctioned we’re assured that ’important lessons have been learnt’. Basically, our NHS is telling us all to keep paying hundreds of billions for third-rate treatment, if we get any treatment at all, and if we’re not happy with this, we can all Foxtrot Oscar.
Similarly, whenever some company is found to be cheating its customers or mistreating staff or whatever, the PR department is usually quick to claim that: ‘Customer satisfaction/customer safety/the wellbeing of our staff is our highest priority’ or we’re fobbed off with something like ‘the company takes complaints very seriously but will not comment on individual allegations’. Once again, the message from the PR department is merely a polite form of Foxtrot Oscar.
We’re all used to this. But I really had to wonder how a government minister could keep a straight face when he basically told us all to Foxtrot Oscar. The disastrous Rachel ‘Economist’ Reeves’s vindictive and economically illiterate Budget was almost universally criticised.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) believes expectations for UK growth have turned negative for the first time in 2024. ‘Our surveys suggest that anticipated activity was already weakening heading into the October Budget, and the chancellor’s announcements have left businesses with even more tough choices to make.’
The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry said: ‘The business community views the combined package of increased employer national insurance contributions, cuts to business rates relief and the employment rights bill as a serious threat to their operations over the coming years.’
Retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Amazon and Greggs told the chancellor in November that her Budget will cause ‘inevitable job losses and higher prices’.
More than half of British businesses expect to put up prices and cut jobs to cope with the costs of Rachel Reeves’s National Insurance raid
James Dyson said: Reeves’s Budget is ’an egregious act of self-harm’
The Office for Budget Responsibility warned the Budget was unlikely to lift economic growth over the next five years
In other words, the Budget seems to have sent the British economy into a nervous breakdown. Business investment is being slashed, tens of thousands of jobs are being lost, some smaller companies will go bankrupt and we’re heading into a recession. However, the disaster is just beginning. Many companies will be waiting to see what happens at Christmas and in the New Year sales. Then in mid-January we can expect an absolute massacre of jobs and small businesses, especially in the retail and hospitality sectors.
But in true Foxtrot Oscar style, junior minister Alex Norris claimed that he did not ‘recognise the characterisation’ of negative growth from the CBI and said: ‘We believe that our Budget is a Budget for growth and that’s what we’ll be judged on.’ The Chancellor herself similarly told us to Foxtrot Oscar when, despite all the evidence to the contrary, she said her Budget would ‘built on the rock of economic stability’ and would ‘invest in the foundations of future growth’.
It seems that after the majority’s docile compliance with the pandemic lockdown restrictions and craven submission to our rulers’ more than questionable vaccines, those in officialdom have realised the extent of their power and now deal with any criticism, complaint or dissatisfaction with an almost automatic ‘you can all Foxtrot Oscar’ response.
